Scientists Need Your Help to Get Their Mitts on Mitten Crabs
As citizens boat, fish and paddle throughout the Delaware Estuary, they should be on the lookout for an invasive sea creature known as the Chinese mitten crab. Like most non-native species, it is difficult to predict just how damaging this new resident might be to our ecology. But, in general, newly introduced animals can become real pests. To be safe, Chinese mitten crabs should be eradicated as much as possible when found.
Chinese mitten crabs cause ecological and economic damage by burrowing into embankments and clogging valuable equipment, and they compete with native species for food and habitat. What's worse, these outsiders can migrate up inland tributaries as far as 50 miles. Thus far, five crabs have been found in Delaware Bay as far north as the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal.
Luckily, there is almost no mistaking the Chinese mitten crab. Its rather large, ivory-colored claws covered with hair-like setae are a sure giveaway that, unlike the popular blue crab, these impostors do not belong.
For more information on this threat to ecological health, please visit www.serc.si.edu/labs/marine_invasions, the official website of the SERC's Marine Invasions Research Lab.
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Milestone Marks Two Decades for Nation's NEPs
In 2007, the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary joined 27 similar nonprofits throughout the coastal United States in celebrating the 20th anniversary of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Estuary Program. The Partnership, then the Delaware Estuary Program, was added in 1996.
The first 10 priority programs were created by Congress in 1987 due to widespread deterioration in coastal watersheds. While mission statements and management plans do vary, each NEP is generally charged with: establishing governance structures according to watershed boundaries; using science to develop and implement management plans; fostering collaborative problem solving; and informing and involving local stakeholders to sustain commitment.
Since 2000, the National Estuary Program has protected or restored more than one million acres of estuarine habitat nationwide. For further insight into the accomplishments of this federally regulated, non-profit program, please visit www.EPA.gov/nep.
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New Guide to Have Pros 'Speaking the Same Language'
The “Guide to the Natural Communities of the Delaware Estuary” (PDF file) is now available as a result of the combined efforts of the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, NatureServe and the Natural Heritage Programs in the States of Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Also available is its companion, “Key to the Delaware Estuary Ecological Systems and Natural Communities” (PDF file).
Together, these works serve as a useful tool that conservation planners and practitioners can use to protect and restore vulnerable habitats. They ensure that a unified language will be used by experts in all jurisdictions when referring to native plant communities.
These references use the National Vegetation Classification System, which became the official U.S. vegetation standard in 1997. They describe 35 ecological systems and 185 natural-community types known to occur within the tri-state watershed, as well as other ecological characteristics such as animal life, topography, and more.
For more information, please contact Danielle Kreeger of the Partnership at (800) 445-4935, extension 104, or DKreeger@DelawareEstuary.org. |
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